Research Assistance Required - ‘CBT and the role of the Occupational Health Nurse in managing the rehabilitation of employees absent on long-term sickness with depression’

Jane Downey, an AOHNP member who is presently studying for her MSc in ‘Organisational Psychiatry and Psychology’ at King’s College London is looking for volunteers to interview for her research which is entitled ‘CBT and the role of the Occupational Health Nurse in managing the rehabilitation of employees absent on long-term sickness with depression’. Jane needs to interview two groups of OH nurses that are both registered as ‘SCPHN(OH)’ but one group will have completed the ‘CBT skills for OH professionals certificate’ which is presently being offered by Brunel University. The main aim of the study is to assess if CBT training makes a difference when assisting this client group to return to work. With the publication of the ‘Black report’ and the heightened Governmental interest in workplace mental health there was never a more appropriate time to assess what we do, the value we add and what we can do better!

Please refer to official ‘information sheet’ for more detailed information. However if you would like to take to take part or need further information please feel free to contact Jane by e-mail at jane.downey@kcl.ac.uk.
May 2010

Members Survey

Thank you for the 64 responses I recently received from members, both new and long standing.

I have reviewed all of the responses and have the following feed back for you. It appears that many of you are still members of the RCN and this could be for Professional Indemnity reasons and I can assure you that the AOHNP are actively working with the MDU on developing a good product for our members which exceeds the present service from the RCN.

We recognise that we need to develop more communication with our members and be more visible in the professional media, with the Occupational Health Journal and Occupational Health at Work seem to be the most read by our members and the new Board will set some targets around communication.

You will have seen from our website and in the Occupational Health Journal that we have started working more proactively with the NMC and the Council for Work & Health and will keep you updated on any news.

The AOHNP strategic objectives are progressing well and new plans are being developed for 2010, so we will feed your comments into our plans for 2010. Please let me know if you would like to be more active in helping the AOHNP Board achieve all our actions by contacting me directly or through Linda Riseborough.

Christina Butterworth, Vice President
November 2009

Professional Development Director update 

1.  I have been accepted on the steering group for the MSc/Diploma in Occupational Health with the University of Wales. 

2.  Having seen the report of our meeting in OH Journal Alison Wall (NMC) has asked me for a copy of the article rejected by the NMC News.

3.  I have also been nominated by the Board to be the Occupational health nurse representative on an expert non medical clinical reference group for the National Cancer Survivorship Initiative. NCSI are currently developing and testing new models of care for people living with and beyond cancer as part of the National Cancer Survivorship Initiative together with the DH and Macmillan Cancer Support (see http://www.ncsi.org.uk/ and http://www.improvement.nhs.uk/cancer/SurvivorshipLivingWithandBeyondCancer/tabid/65/Default.aspx

Greta Thornbory
November 2009
 
AOHNP meets the NMC 
Following concerns expressed by a number of members of the Association of Occupational Health Nurse Practitioners (AOHNP) regarding the present education and training requirements by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) for OH nurses a meeting was arranged with Alison Wall, NMC Professional Adviser for Specialist Community Public Health Nursing (SCPHN), Children and Young People. The meeting took place at the NMC HQ on 20th July 09 and was attended by Christina Butterworth, Greta Thornbory, and Anne Harriss.

The objectives of the meeting were:
To explain the uniqueness of OH nursing
To respond to the NMC request to help shape the future of nursing education
To express concerns from OH nurses and allied professionals about the standards of OH practice following recent OH education.

There were 4 main points of discussion:
1. Standards of proficiency for SCPHN's – Alison said that this publication is being reviewed at present and it was agreed that Greta would be invited to join in early 2010 the review panel. Meanwhile the NMC are tendering for a literature review on the main pressures and drivers in public health since 2004.

2. Review of present OH education - Liz Griffiths has been asked to review the following items, on behalf of the NMC: number of courses available (NMC approved and not approved) number of students registered for 2009 - full time & part time pass rate number of practice teachers why some universities are no longer offering an OH course (practice teacher requirements??)

3. A greater understanding of OH nursing – at the meeting Alison's awareness of OH nursing was raised, particularly with regard to OH practitioners requirements and the need for business skills and health risk management skills, employment law and health and safety knowledge, as well as a foundation knowledge of disease management; all of which is very different from the other SCPHN disciplines. Alison appeared to be convinced and was enlightened about our approach to the biopsychosocial model of health with regard to such priorities for the working age population of endemic disease, obesity; noise induced hearing loss and other international health issues. Alison suggested that an article in the NMC news might help to enlighten others.*

4. Validation of OH courses - there is a wide range of course content, some with a greater degree of OH pathway specific elements and some with a greater degree of public health elements that are not directly OH related. (The course run at the South Bank seems more in line with AOHNP thinking in that it offers 3 core modules on research, leadership and public health, with all of the other modules OH pathway specific). The NMC presently have a validation panel but there is no OH nurse (practicing nurse consultant) representation. Alison was not able to commit to this request but did say that she would investigate the possibility.

All these points require further discussion and involvement from OH. The more the AOHNP, other OH organisations and individual OH nurses challenge the NMC the better. 

* Since this meeting an article on OH nursing was submitted to the Editor of NMC News and publication refused.

Greta Thornbory, Professional Development Director
October 2009

Membership Strategy
The board of AOHNP (UK) are please to announce the following loyalty benefits:

All members will receive a triennial discount on their membership of 10% from 1st October, either as a reduction in the renewal fee or a cheque refund  for those who pay by standing order.

We are also offering a Board Members discount and Event discount to encourage membership, with a year on year target to increase membership by 20% in the next year.

Please help us to reach our target by recommending the AOHNP at every opportunity.

Our next initiative under this strategy is to find out more about what you want from the AOHNP and a survey was issued with the AGM papers.  We hope to publish the results in the next OH Today.
Christina Butterworth, Director - October 2009

To Network or Not to Network?
As an Association representing a professional body we appear to have taken it for granted that individuals who join and provide their contact details for our directory are willing to network and share their experience, knowledge and information. 

As a Board we try and provide as much information as we can to each other and to our members. We see this as the essence of the organisation. Unfortunately we have taken this assumption for granted and have received feedback that some members do not wish to be contacted, or to share any experience, knowledge or education to other members, in some cases to students. 

When developing the current strategies recently, the Board felt that if we provided our members with as much information as possible to help with their practice and development and if we also encouraged members to communicate with each other, we would create an Association that would build in strength and voice and would make sure that Occupational Health Nurse Practitioners were given the status they deserve.  We have already been shifted to a position under the umbrella term of Public Health, which some have argued “the profession could become frail and woolly.”  (AOHNP discussion forum 2007)  We have discussed this issue as a Board, but is this something that you feel may happen and do you feel that you can do something about it?

To ensure we have strength we believe that communicating with each other can only be an advantage.  It would appear however that there have been occasions when some members have approached other members to build relationships, share information and generally network. The response they have had has been quite negative. This we feel is a cause for concern as it contradicts our aims and strategies. These are outlined below and can be viewed on the AOHNP website.  Our aims are to:

Promote
to actively represent and promote the practice of occupational health nursing
Influence
to support and influence the learning and development of occupational health nursing through participation in curriculum development and occupational health standards
Support
to support and promote the continuing professional development of occupational health nurses
Benchmark
to work in association with other relevant agencies to benchmark and research occupational health nursing practice
Network
to provide a network of professional expertise and support. 
 
We realise that there are quite a few sole practitioners and members who own and run their own businesses and although these may be difficult times we feel that communicating with other professionals and colleagues can only be an advantage to each of us as individuals and OHNPs as a whole.  

No two businesses are run the same and having a contact you can brain storm with, seek information from or just share your troubles with is an advantage. If you can refer a business colleague to one of your clients or customers to provide a service you do not supply, and who is a colleague who you know will do an excellent job, this will only enhance your business within the eyes of your client or customer and work to your advantage.
There are also advantages to Occupational Health Nurse Practitioners at a national level as we only have a voice with any strength if we have numbers and show strength in unity.

To do this we need to encourage students to take up our profession to do research and develop where we may not have as much opportunity as they do during their education and training.  What we can do is give them the benefit of our experience and knowledge to help with this process.

The Board feel this is an issue which should be approached from the point of view of ‘how much time’ can I allocate to meeting and communicating with my OHNP colleagues, not ‘whether I should or not’.  We would like to hear your view point and we have a discussion forum on the web site for exactly this purpose. Can I encourage you to post your view point to give us guidance, clarification that we’ve got it right, or to ensure your voice is heard if you think we’ve got it wrong?  
 
Also if you would like to set up a networking group where you can meet colleagues on a regular basis we would help and encourage you with this process.  Please tell us what you think.

Wendy Johnson, Director - June 2009

Guidance Documents

As part of the Professional Development Strategy we have decided to produce a series of guidance documents.

The topics for 2009 are:
Quality assurance - evidence based practice and clinical governance
Report writing
Confidentiality and consent – enabling the business (sound business principles and  practice)
Record keeping
Functional assessment and note taking– pre employment and post injury/illness

We would now like to request your assistance in developing the guidelines, in one of 3 ways; contributing to the content, providing best practice from your workplace or acting as part of the consultation group. Please let us know if you would like to get involved by contacting the Association Administrator no later than 1st July 2009.
May 2009

Health and Wellbeing at Work 2009 Stand 

For the second year AOHNP (UK) had a stand at the HWB09 conference/exhibition in February.  Our stand success can be highlighted by the number of new members (40) joining and, if you missed the event, below are some of the comments I’ve received from directors who helped run the stand:

“I thought the whole event was a really worthwhile two days for people. A really wide choice of speakers enabled OH practitioners to take advantage of worthwhile information for their personal CPD. The exhibition with handouts, leaflets and seminar talks also afforded the same opportunities, not to mention many goodies and freebies. I didn't have to buy any lunch as I managed on healthy free fruit!!”

“The exhibition stand proved a success. The inventive approach to attracting members worked a treat. Let’s hope we can build on that.”

“I thought it was all great - lovely to meet everyone again and also to relax 'off duty' and enjoy ourselves and realise what lovely people (and fun mad characters) are on the board. I thought we made good impression/impact on the stand & it was amazing how many OH Advisors approached us saying 'I keep meaning to join....'”

“I don’t know if it was stand position but we certainly attracted through traffic & people wanted to talk to us.  It was good to talk to members and potential members alike and one theme that kept coming through strongly was how we all recognised that this is a great opportunity for us, as OHA's, to make our voice heard and we either grab this opportunity or loose it.

“Purely from an AOHNP perspective I thought the 2 days were a great success and propelled us excellently in to the future as the new committee, building on the work done by the Director’s before us.  There was plenty of energy and passion between the group which was quietly, but assertively controlled by Jeremy, and expertly co-ordinated by Linda, what would we do without her? 

“We seemed to be able to portray that energy to the delegates at the conference as we managed to gain 40 new members, not an unsubstantial amount.  The Ruth Alston lecture was a great success creating a debate which needs to be out in the open and discussed so that all parties are aware of how we can work together.

All in all I’d say it was a success.”

It was a great opportunity for me to meet so many of our existing members and to welcome the new ones.  Photos taken at the AOHNP stand will on the website shortly.
Linda Riseborough, Association Administrator
May 2009

Ruth Alston Memorial Lecture 2009

This year’s lecture was held at the Hilton Birmingham Metropole Hotel, NEC on 24 February and seemed to be enjoyed by everyone.  The lecture, given by Neil Budworth, the Corporate Health and Safety Manager for E.ON in the UK who is also a visiting professor in occupational safety and health in the department of Human Sciences at Loughborough University  and is a Past President of the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH), caused much lively debate.

Prof Budworth said that new thinking was required to advance occupational health and safety.  “If we keep doing what we have always done, we will keep getting the same results,” he said.  He suggested that earlier identification of health problems in the workplace was one way of improving outcomes.  To achieve this, safety specialists might be used as the eyes and ears of occupational health departments.

He also felt that occupational health had a “once in a generation chance” at the moment to make an impact and improve its standing.  “We now have the attention of the people we need” he said, pointing to the favourable reception by government to the Black report.

Some OH nurses in the audience were not convinced that greater involvement of safety specialists in occupational health would be welcome. “You are trying to take our jobs,” as one delegate bluntly put it.

We received many compliments about the arrangements on the night including “I had a thoroughly enjoyable evening, and as ever it was a pleasure to meet old friends and make new ones”.  

The venue/timing of the lecture is always debateable.  The last two years have seen us host the event on the evening between the Health and Wellbeing at Work Conference – in 2008 outside the NEC site and this year actually on site. Our intention on both occasions was to try and encourage members/non-members to join us for an evening of networking and interesting discussion.  Whilst this year’s attendance increased over 2008, the number of members at the event was still lower than we would have liked, especially since it is one of our major events. 

Ruth Alston was a passionate advocate of occupational health. She frequently demonstrated this during her varied career which included working in management positions in industrial and commercial settings and lecturing occupational health nursing students.  One of Ruth’s last acts for the AOHNP(UK) was to agree that this annual lecture be held in her name. She requested only that there should somehow be a link between occupational health nursing and the wider business focused world. This has given opportunity for a wide brief for the past speakers.

The board would be interested to receive your comments about the content, location and timing of the lecture. For example: Would it be better held in London?  Should we hold it on the same day as the Annual General Meeting/Good Practice Forum? Should we hold it earlier in the day? With or without a meal? If you attended, did you enjoy it?  If you didn’t attend, why not? 

Please let Linda know your views or ideas on admin@aohnp.co.uk
May 2009

EVENTS ATTENDED BY SUZANNE ELLIOTT, DIRECTOR AOHNP (UK)
On behalf of the Association, Suzanne attended two conferences as detailed below:

British Occupational Hygiene Society - 14 May 2008
I attended the British Occupational Hygiene Society conference on Wednesday 14th May 2008 as a representative of the AOHNP It was a three day conference and was held at the Thistle Hotel, Bristol.

I was welcomed to the event and was very well looked after and entertained during the day and at the dinner in the evening by the staff, the retiring president and the incoming president.

The conference was a very prestigious gathering and I was impressed by the level of knowledge and commitment to occupational health and safety issues by all concerned.  The hygienists attending and speaking had a level of knowledge and expertise that is humbling. They were very willing to share their knowledge with all attendees. 

It was well attended by members from other parts of the world thereby showing how we cannot stand alone in regard to environmental/hygiene issues which are now global and that what one country decides to do, can have far reaching effects on other areas of the world.

It was good to see the sharing of knowledge between the professionals and to note that they do not always agree on issues.  I attended a discussion between two professionals who disagreed on the outcome of an asbestos issue at a school.  They had differing points of view.  It was interesting to hear and to register that there were several ways to interpret information and statistics even at the higher level of experience.

The keynote lecture by Professor Seaton was highly topical ‘The Air, Past, Present and Future’. This lecture was designed to show ‘how climate change has crept in to the political agenda and discussed some of the possible implications for industry, health and social stability in the United Kingdom’.

The aim of the BOHS is stated simply in their brochure: to help to reduce work-related ill health’.This is very relevant to the aims of Occupational Health Professionals and it is possible to join the society as a member of a special interest group.  It is not expensive and gives access to current and informative information.  It is possible to join on their website which is www.bohs.org.

Greater Manchester Occupational Health Nurses Group - 12 June 2008

Suzanne Elliott (right) and Sian Edwards at the AOHNP stand

I attended the GMOHNP conference on the 12th June 2008.  It took place at the Lowry centre in Manchester.  It was a well attended conference with Occupational Health Advisers’ (OHA) from all over the country.  There were several well known sponsors and the whole venue was very pleasant. 

I attended the conference as a delegate and also as a representative of the AOHNP and manned a stand on behalf of the association.

The first speaker at the conference was Dame Carol Black. Her focus was on the Health, Work and Well-Being strategy document (published Spring 2008) of the working age population.  She talked about its key recommendations and how these will be implemented and how they will affect OH professionals.

Dame Carol is a doctor by profession and as an OHA I found most of her recommendations aimed at the doctor level of the medical population.  I was concerned to hear her say at the end of her talk that she did not know a lot about nursing issues.  As everyone there was a nurse by profession, I found this profoundly depressing.  When quizzed about the nurses role Dame Carol commented that they had had very little response from the nursing profession to the initial invitations for comments and also that there were road shows and the nurses were low on attendance. On a personal note, when I tried to attend one of the road shows the places were all full and an OHA who had managed to attend one, commented that most of the places on her session were taken by doctors.

One of the recommendations is that there should be ‘fit for work’ clinics and that these should be based in doctor’s surgeries or in the new ‘polyclinics’ that the government is suggesting.   The GP would then refer the patient straight to the clinic instead of writing a sick note.  Again there was no mention of the OHA role.

As OHA we need to be more pro-active in promoting ourselves and ensuring that we have a future in the occupational health field.  We must be more vocal and earn the respect of our medical colleagues or we will be replaced by practice nurses and technicians.

There were good talks by several other speakers and there was lots of interest in the AOHNP by the OHAs attending the conference.  Many OHAs found it difficult to understand how they were going to represent themselves as a professional and respected group of practitioners.  How were they going to be represented or make their voices heard in the future, as there were so many changes being made in the RCN occupational health arena, which has historically been the one of the few ways that OHAs have been able to communicate with their peers?  I see this as an area that the AOHNP can grow and therefore give much needed support to the OHAs who, at this moment in time, are feeling very isolated and under represented in the grand scheme of things.

If you have any comments on these articles, why not join our discussion forum.

OBE FOR CYNTHIA ATWELL
Our congratulations go to Cynthia Atwell, Honorary life member of AOHNP (UK) who has been awarded an OBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours List 2008 for services to Healthcare (Burton upon Trent), Staffordshire.  Cynthia retired as a Senior Teaching Fellow in Occupational Health from the University of Warwick in December 2007.  Despite her retirement, she continues to work closely within the faculty teaching on both the undergraduate diploma in occupational health and the new postgraduate diploma in regulatory health and safety for HSE Inspectors.
June 2008

Association Stand at NEC delivers
The Association had a stand at the Health & Wellbeing at Work 2008 conference at the NEC, Birmingham on 5/6 March 2008.  To coincide with this event, it was decided to hold the Ruth Alston Memorial Lecture near to the NEC at The Coleshill Hotel, Coleshill on the Wednesday evening.

Despite its small size the AOHNP (UK) stand looked very presentable and was manned each day by some of the directors and/or members.  Kim, Alison and Suzanne looked quite relaxed on the Wednesday considering the amount of delegates showing interest in: Association membership (Full, Student and Associate); our updating of the Running an Occupational Health Business booklet; AOHNP (UK) study day and seminar funding and professional indemnity insurance via the Medical Defence Union.  Alison commented that “it was great to meet so many enthusiastic occupational health nurse practitioners and students”.  For the most part email addresses were collected from interested parties and application forms etc. have now been personally issued, the balance being sent by post. 

Although the stand was manned by 2 or 3 people all the time, most of the directors took advantage of some of the free cholesterol testing and health checks that were available, networked with colleagues, occupational physicians, occupational therapists and looked at the numerous exhibitor stands.  We were (un)lucky enough to be opposite the Cadbury stand where they kept giving away free Dairy Milk chocolate but at least it kept our energy levels up! Literature was also collected on various organisations that may be advantageous to members of the Association.  Approximately 2,800 delegates were at the two-day event.
March 2008